Dental education in the 21st century: A comprehensive approach for new generations
Submitted: 17 September 2021
Accepted: 4 October 2021
Published online: 5 April, TAPS 2022, 7(2), 61-62
https://doi.org/10.29060/TAPS.2022-7-2/LE2691
Gabriela González & Mildred Lopez
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Mexico
Although there have been many calls for dental education to move to comprehensive training, many have remained in rhetoric. However, recently the strategic analysis of the American Dental Association of Education recommended a curriculum transformation to engage students in life-long learning and nurturing an educational community with well-qualified teachers to mentor students and model the values of the profession (Formicola et al., 2018).
Reimagining dental education demands a curriculum that considers the unique characteristics of learners. The generation to come has grown in a globalised world where information about what is happening in remote geographical places is quickly available, which has shaped their cultural and political points of view. Their idealism and advocacy have marked how they relate to patients. As part of the inherent characteristics, students thrive in experiential learning and rely on the internet and multimedia content. Therefore, incorporating technology is a must for engaging them in meaningful learning activities.
Instead of theory-oriented education, institutions should foster learning environments that depict the immediate community’s health challenges, for example, childhood caries, poor access to dental care, and the increase in the number of people with untreated oral conditions. A starting point is to transition to context-rich educational experiences where students can make a positive social impact. While doing so, they honour their social commitment to patients and families and transform into health advocates.
Additionally, this comprehensive approach needs to nurture a professional that can work within a health system. Dentists that are successful in practice are immersed in a community and have an interdisciplinary approach to deliver quality care. To achieve this competence undergraduates, need more opportunities to develop critical thinking skills, engage in self-assessment of performance, provide, and receive feedback to spark growth, and practice evidence-based decision-making (Kornegay et al., 2021).
Considering the evolution of technologies and the emergence of diseases, it is impossible to think that dental training has not changed. However, the unique profile of the new generation of students demands that we accelerate the change process. Learners have raised to the challenge and have demonstrated their will to positively impact their communities and society. The call for action for educational institutions is to embrace a new vision for a wide comprehensive dental education model where students learn from dental sciences and medicine to advocacy and ethics.
Notes on Contributors
Gabriela Gonzalez prepared first draft; literature review; writing and Mildred Lopez revised the final version of the manuscript. ML wrote and revised the final version of the manuscript.
Funding
There is no funding for this study.
Declaration of Interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
Formicola, A. J., Bailit, H. L., Weintraub, J. A., Fried, J. L., & Polverini, P. J. (2018). Advancing dental education in the 21st century: Phase 2 report on strategic analysis and recommendations. Journal of Dental Education, 82(10), eS1–eS32. https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.018.109
Kornegay, E. C., Jackson, T. H., LaGarry‐Cahoon, A., Reside, J. M., Wolcott, M. D., & Quinonez, R. B. (2021). “I don’t think the problem’s the student… I think it’s us”: Engaging faculty in curriculum innovation. Journal of Dental Education, 85(4), 582-588. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12495
*Gabriela González
Tecnologico de Monterrey,
Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud
Av. Morones Prieto 3000 Pte
64710 Monterrey, N.L. México
Tel: 52/81 8888 2254
Email: dra.gabrielaglzl@gmail.com
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